The
Syriac Orthodoxare the faithful of one of the oldest apostolic
Churches, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. The Church is universal
in the sense that it transcends differences of nationalities and culture
in the true spirit of the Apostle St. Paul’s admonition to the Colossians
(3:11) – “there is neither Gentile nor Jew … Barbarian not Scythian.”; its
faithful are from a diversity of backgrounds (today, predominantly from
the Middle East and India) and spread across the globe. Its origins are in
the ancient region of Greater Syria (hence the name) which covers modern
Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, but spread all over
the East as far as India. The Church is known as Syriac Orthodox
because it has Syriac as its liturgicallanguage. (The language is only one
of the reasons, Please see Patriarch Yacoub III, The Syrian Orthodox
of Antioch, 1985, p 2 and Patriarch Aphrem I, The Syrian Church of
Antioch. Its Name and History)

Antioch on the River
Orontes (today Antakya in Turkey) was the city where the earliest
Christians fleeing from Palestine after the resurrection of Christ
established themselves and it was here that Christians were called by this
name (Acts 11:28, 14:28). It is here that St. Peter, the Chief among the
Apostles, founded a church in AD 37. Antioch became the seat of a
bishopric which administered the early Church in the Syriac speaking
Eastern parts of the Roman Empire. At the Synod of Nicea, this bishopric
was recognized as one among four Patriarchates with jurisdiction over all
the East. The seat of the patriarchate moved from Antioch ca. AD
518, after a period of turbulent history that lead to an unfortunate
schism, to various locations in the Near East until it settled in
Deyrul-Zafaran monastery in Mardin, Turkey, during the 13th
century. After another period of heinous violence during and after World
War I, which took the lives of a quarter million faithful, the
patriarchatewas transferred to Homs, Syria, in 1933, and later to
Damascus in 1957. Since 1996, the Patriarch resides in the Patriarchal
monastery in Ma`arat Sayyidnaya, in the outskirts of Damascus, but
continues to administer the Church from the Patriarchate in Bab Touma,
Damascus

The liturgical language
of the church is Syriac, the Edessan dialect of Aramaic - the early
Palestinian dialect of which was spoken by Lord Jesus Christ and His
disciples. All most all of its liturgy originates from Syriac sources.
(The Syriac Church has adopted Greek sources at various
times – Patr. Severus for example. It even adopted material from John of
Damascus. All Quqalya came from Greek sources)The
church, however, allows the faithful to use local languages along with
Syriac. Many liturgical works have been translated into Arabic, Malayalam,
English and Turkish.

The Council of
Chalcedon in A.D. 451 resulted in the schism of Christendom into two
groups. The Catholic (Rome) and Greek (Byzantine) Churches accepted the
Council, while the Syrian (Antioch) and Coptic (Alexandria) Churches
rejected it. The former group adopted the doctrine that Christ is in
two natures, human and divine, while the latter adopted the doctrine that
Christ has one incarnate nature from two natures. It is worth
noting that the drafts of the Council were according to the position of
the Syrian and Coptic Churches. The final resolution, however, was
according to the doctrine of the Western Churches. The difference lies in
one preposition as explained. One word split the Church for centuries and
the schism continues to this day.

No. The monophysite
dogma is an extreme version of the one nature Christological doctrine put
forth by Eutyches. It claims that Christ has one nature only and that the
divine nature subsumed the human nature with Christ being consubstantial
only with God the Father and not with humanity. Adversaries have accused
the Syriac Orthodox Church of the monophysite position. However
this dogma has always been rejected by the Syriac Orthodox Church. It is
unfortunate that this term is still used by some scholars. Prof. Sebastian
Brock of Oxford University has suggested using the term miaphysite
which more accurately describes the Syriac Orthodox position.

No. This is a name used
by the adversaries of the church who attempt to belittle the church by
suggesting that the church was founded by St. Jacob Baradaeus. During the
sixth century, the Syriac Orthodox Church endured persecution under the
Byzantian Empire because it upheld its faith. It was at this time that
Jacob Baradeus emerged on the scene. He journeyed all over the East
ordaining priests and deacons thus reviving the church from the brink of
extinction. Jacob is considered a great Saint of the Syriac Orthodox
Church, but not its founder. Hence, the Church rejects the name Jacobite.

It should however be
noted that Syriac Orthodox Christians in Malankara (India) for
circumstantial/historical reasons often refer to themselves as Jacobites.
For several centuries Christians in Malankara were referred to by the term
Nazarani. After the Portugese imposition of Roman Catholicism and
its rejection at Koonan Kurishu in 1599, the Syriac Orthodox
Christians came to be known as the Puthenkoor (the new allegiance).
The term Jacobite was introduced into Malankara in the nineteenth century
by Anglicans. Christians who remained in the mother church following
schisms influenced by the Anglicans adopted the term without realizing its
negative connotations.

No. There are other
Patriarchates of Antioch that claim succession to the bishopric of St.
Peter at Antioch. Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Seat of
the Patriarchate was intermittently occupied by adherents of two groups:
the one which rejected and the other which accepted the council. By the
sixth century, two distinct lines of patriarchs emerged. The Syriac
Orthodox line rejected the Greek Orthodox (called Rum Orthodox in the
Middle East) who accepted the council.

Around the seventh
century, followers of St. Maron in Lebanon formed the Maronite Church
whose patriarch also took the title, Patriarch of Antioch. This church
later became a uniate Roman Catholic church. In the 18th
century, a group split from the Rum Orthodox, joined the Roman Catholic
Church and formed the Greek Catholic Church (Rum Catholics). Their
patriarch also took the title, Patriarch of Antioch. In the second quarter
of the same century, a group split from the Syriac Orthodox Church and
established the Syrian Catholic Church, which is in communion with Rome.

The Church in Malankara
(Kerala, India) is an integral part and a Synodal entity in the Syriac
Orthodox Church.

According to tradition,
Christianity in India was established by
St. Thomas, who arrived in Malankara (Kerala) from Edessa, the cradle
of Syriac Christianity in A.D. 52 and was martyred at Mylapore in Chennai
(formerly Madras) in A.D. 72. The Church in Malankara has had close ties
with the Church in the Near East ever since.
The ties between
the Church in Malankara and the Near East were formalized and
strengthened, when under the leadership of the merchant Thomas of Cana and
72 families (around
400 odd persons comprising men, women and children led by Bishop Mor
Joseph of Edessa)reached Cragananore (Kodungalloor) in A.D. 345
and settled there. The Church in Malankara always accepted the Nicene
Synod and the spiritual authority of the Patriarch of Antioch over all the
East, even though at certain periods in its history, it accepted the
authority of the Catholicate of the Church of the East. Since the
seventeenth century, after a tryst with the Portugese who attempted to
bring the entire Church in Malankara under the Roman yoke, formal and
direct acceptance of the primacy of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of
Antioch was resumed and this association is enjoyed to this day.

While the spiritual
head of the
Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is the Syriac Orthodox
Patriarch of Antioch, the Church enjoys a considerable degree of autonomy,
particularly in its temporal affairs. Since the seventeenth century a
succession of bishops known as the Malankara Metropolitans, consecrated by
the Patriarch of Antioch or his delegate, administered by the Church.
Since 1964, its local head is the
Maphriyono / Catholicos.

The
term ‘Catholicos’ (Katholikos) is derived from the Greek words ‘Kath-Holikos’,
meaning ‘General Primate’ or ‘General Vicar’. Even
before the primates of the Church adopted this title, it existed in the
Roman Empire where its Government representative who was in charge of a
large area was called as ‘Catholicos’. The Government servant, who was in
charge of State treasury, too was known in that name. In due course, the
secular administrative heads in Persian Empire also adopted this title.

The
Churches (mainly outside the Roman Empire) started to use this term for
their chief Bishops much later, probably by 4th or 5th
centuries. Now the primates of the Orthodox Churches in Armenia, Georgia,
Iraq and India, use the title ‘Catholicos’.

‘Maphriyono’
(Maphrian) is derived from the Syriac word afri, “to make
fruitful’, or "one who gives fecundity". This title came to be used
exclusively for the head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the East
(Persia), after the prelates who occupied the office of the Catholicate
since late 5th century adopted Nestorian Christology and separated from
the rest of Christendom. From the mid 13th century onwards, a few
occupants of the Maphrianate were referred also as ‘Catholicos’, but the
title never came into extensive usage. However in the 20th
century when this office of the Maphrianate under the Holy See of Antioch
was reinstated in India, the chief of the local church assumed the title
‘Catholicos’. It is this title that is being used in India today, while
the title ‘Maphriyono’ (Maphrian) has fell out of popular use. To learn more,
please visit History of Catholicate of the East

The question on the elevation
of the Catholicos to the Patriarchate arises based on the constitution
of SOC Article 36, which says:

"The following shall
participate in the election of the new Patriarch: His Beatitude the
Catholicos, the Metropolitan of the Knanaya Archdiocese, the
Metropolitans of the churches of the Antiochian Apostolic See in India,
and the Metropolitan of North America of the Malankara Archdiocese. All
above shall elect but may not be elected."

This is an
article which can be amended at any time depending on
the political situations and the decisions of the
universal synod under the Patriarch. However, let us
analyze this article in the present context.

The same constitution also
says that the (Article 8) "Catholicos is elected only by the
Metropolitans under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate See."

Patriarch is elected with representation (Universal Episcopal synod)
from all over the world, but Catholicos is elected only by bishops under
the Catholicate. The Jacobite Syrian Christian Association (electoral
body for Catholicos) does not currently entertain electing a bishop who
is not part of the Synod under the Catholicate, as the Catholicos. These
are well understood and no one from India or from among the Suryoye has
questioned it.....

The Fathers of the Syriac
Orthodox Church tried to give a theological interpretation to the
primacy of Saint Peter. They were fully convinced of the unique
office of Peter in the primitive Christian community. Ephrem,
Aphrahat and Marutha who were supposed to be the best exponents of
the early Syriac tradition unequivocally acknowledge the office of
Peter.

The Syriac Fathers following the rabbinic tradition call Jesus
“Kepha” for they see “rock” in the Old Testament as a messianic
Symbol. When Christ gave his own name “Kepha” to Simon he was giving
him participation in the person and office of Christ. Christ who is
the Kepha and shepherd made Simon the chief shepherd in his place
and gave him the very name Kepha and said that on Kepha he would
build the Church. Aphrahat shared the common Syriac tradition. For
him Kepha is in fact another name of Jesus, and Simon was given the
right to share the name. The person who receives somebody else’s
name also obtains the rights of the person who bestows the name.
Aphrahat makes the stone taken from Jordan a type of Peter. He says
Jesus son of Nun set up the stones for a witness in Israel; Jesus
our Saviour called Simon Kepha Sarirto and set him as the faithful
witness among nations.

Again he says in his commentary on Deuteronomy that Moses brought
forth water from “rock” (Kepha) for the people and Jesus sent Simon
Kepha to carry his teachings among nations. Our Lord accepted him
and made him the foundation of the Church and called him Kepha. When
he speaks about transfiguration of Christ he calls him Simon Peter,
the foundation of the Church. Ephrem also shared the same view. The
Armenian version of De Virginitate records that Peter the Rock
shunned honour Who was the head of the Apostles. In a mimro of Efrem
found in Holy Week Liturgy points to the importance of Peter. Both
Aphrahat and Ephrem represent the authentic tradition of the Syrian
Church. The different orders of liturgies used for sanctification of
Church building, marriage, ordination etc. reveal that the primacy
of Peter is a part of living faith of the Church.

5.Priest (Syr. kohno): Reverend Father (the proper Syriac title is
Qashisho - Presbyter; informally Abun - Father is also used.)

6.Monk—novitiate (Syr. sharwoyo)

7.Monk—not ordained as priest (Syr.
Dayroyo): Rev. Dayroyo

8.Monk Priest (Syr. Rabban, literally 'Great Master' since in the past a
Rabban was the principal of exegetical schools associated with
monasteries): Very Rev. Rabban (Informally, 'Dayroyo', lit. dweller
of a monastery, is also used.)

12.Patriarch - His Holiness Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius ... (The Syriac form
of address is Kumro Rabo - Great or High Priest).

For a bishop, the first
name after 'Mor' is the name given upon consecration (e.g. Severus), the
second usually the name at baptism and if there is a third name, it is
usually the family name. In India, bishops are often addressed "Baptised
(first) Name + Mor + Consecrated Name" as opposed to the Syriac form of
"Mor + Consecrated Name + Baptised (first) Name"

Since the 13th cent.
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs have assumed the titular name Mor Ignatius. For
e.g., Patriarch Zakka was Mor Severus Zakka when he was bishop of Mosul
and then Baghdad. The roman numeral indicates the number of the Patriarch
with that first name (e.g. Zakka) in the legitimate succession list. (With
Patriarchs who have the first name Peter, there is a bit of confusion;
earlier the numbering did not start with Apostle St Peter, but in the
first part of the 20th cent. lists began to regard him as Peter I; so the
last Patriarch Peter who reigned towards the end of 19th cent. referred to
himself as Peter III, but now is often designated Peter IV). The last name
(e.g. Iwas) is the family name.

Indeed, the Church Historian
Eusebius who was the Bishop of Caesarea in the fourth century AD shifted to
Arian heresy towards the latter period of his life. This does not by itself
make the name, 'Eusebios (Eusebius)' a cursed one and something to be
avoided.

In AD 310 there was a Pope in Rome
of the same name who passed away as a true believer in our Lord Jesus
Christ, and also another Prelate who was born in Sardinia around AD 283 and
was consecrated and appointed as the Bishop of Vercelli by Pope Julius I of
Rome on December 15, 340. This latter Eusebius, who passed away in AD 371,
is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and his memory is commemorated on
December 16. This St. Eusebius was a supporter of St. Athanasius the Great
of Alexandria and also opposed Arian heresy. (New Advent Catholic
Encyclopedia and the Wikiepedia, Internet)

It may be noted that Pope Eusebius
of Rome and St. Eusebius of Vercelli were Prelates of the Church in the West
when the whole Christendom was one in faith and before it split into two at
the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451). Hence those two persons have to be
considered as faithful Prelates of the whole Christian Church, and, so,
using their name for one of our Metropolitans is appropriate. In fact, the
word 'Eusebios (Greek word: euseves)' means 'pious'.

Fasting is a spiritual practice which is given
much importance in Semitic religions. The early Church instituted periods of
fasting and abstinence from certain foods following the examples of our Lord
as well as those of the Prophets such as Moses and Elijah. While the periods
of fasting and Lenten observances are described in early texts such as
Didascalia Apostolorum, practices have varied over time.

For instance, the Rogation of the Ninevites was introduced only in the 7th
cent. First in the Church of the East and then adopted among the Syriac
Orthodox Madenhoyo (Easterners) and later in the entire Syriac Orthodox
Church. Through the influence of Syrians, the practice was adopted in other
churches such as the Coptic and Armenian Orthodox Churches.

We find that the duration of Lenten observances
have varied.

Bar `Ebroyo in his Ethikon states that: "Some
people observe the fast of Nativity forty days from the full moon of Teshri
(approx November) the second, others twenty-five days from the beginning of
Kanun (approx. December) the first, and still others two weeks from the
tenth of Kanun the first." (Teule, H.G.B. (trans.). Ethicon. Louvain: 1993,
p. 80)

In the Nomocanon, Bar `Ebroyo gives more detailed
information about the identity of people who fast 40, 25 or 14 days. The
ascetics fast 40 days, lay people in the East (MadenHoye) from Kanun the
first (=25 days) and lay people in the west: two weeks from the 10th of
Kanun the first. (Teule, 1993, p. 80, fn 44).

Regarding the fast of the Apostles, Bar `Ebroyo
says in the Ethikon: "The people in the West observe the fast of Apostles
from the Monday after the feast of Pentecost till the twenty-ninth of Hziran
(approx June), which is the feast of Peter and Paul; the people in the East
till the completion of fifty days. About this fast the Holy Jacob (of Edessa
in "A Letter to John the Stylite, ed. A. Voobus in Synodicon I, p. 238/219
trans.) said that it is not compulsory; otherwise anyone not keeping this
fast would be blameworthy. But perhaps because our Lord said to his
Apostles: the sons of the bride-chamber cannot fast as long as the
bridegroom is with them. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall
be taken from them and then they shall fast (Mt 9:15), therefore, when our
Lord ascended and the Spirit came, the Apostles fasted and this was accepted
as a custom, but not prescribed."

These are just some examples of varied practices
within the Syriac Orthodox Church recorded in the 13th cent. Similarly, the
foods prescribed during lent have also varied. For instance, in certain
areas, in addition to animal products, oil was avoided during lent. On the
other hand, we find in a letter of Mor Philoxenos to the Abu Ya'fur the
Lakhmid Phylarch references to Christian Turks being permitted to eat milk
and meat--but only dried meat--during lent. (Paul Harb (trans.), Lettre de
Philoxene de Mabbug au phylarque Abu Ya'fur... OLM Meltho (1967):183-222).

HH Patriarch Aphrem I's of blessed memory
relaxation of Lenten observances (No 620; Dec 2, 1952) upon appeal from the
bishops in Malankara has to be seen in this context. While the Patriarch's
encyclical was promptly ridiculed by then Malankara Orthodox faction
Catholicos Geevarghese II (No 210; Dec 8, 1952), Konatt Abraham Malpano
(Malankara Malpano of the Malankara Orthodox Church) published an article in
Malayala Manorama, praising the wisdom and timeliness of HH Patriarch Aphrem
I's decision. In this article the learned Malpano emphatically acknowledges
the authority of the Holy Fathers of the Church to set rules for periods of
fasting. He welcomes relaxations to keep with the times and changing
circumstances. You can read this news clipping from the Manorama at
our resource section, which is
provided by Mr. T.M. Chacko (Member Id # 0903 of SOCM-FORUM).

The observance of Lents (fasts) were indicated by
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself [St. Mathew 9:15, St. Mark 9:29 (Syriac
Bible)] and hence it is within the general authority vested in the Holy
Church by our Lord Jesus Christ to fix the Lents (fasts) and its
observances. In this view of the matter, the relaxations made by Patriarch
Mor Aphrem I of blessed memory in consultation with the Holy Synod, and
which are in force at present, are in keeping with the divine authority
given to the Holy Church to preach and to teach for the edification of the
believers. As far as those outside the Syriac Orthodox Church are concerned
it may do well for them to remember that the Lenten observances in the
Syriac Orthodox Church are internal matters of the Syriac Orthodox Church
- it does not impose them on others. And those who are members of the Syriac
Orthodox Church need not be bothered by outside criticisms of its Lenten
observances, since they are matters within the authority of the Holy Church
exercised through the Holy Synod and His Holiness the Patriarch the Supreme
Head of the Holy Syriac Orthodox Church."

I read a few postings on this
subject in SOCM Forum a few weeks back. I was engaged with other
responsibilities and travels during those days. I ask pardon for this
belated response. I am sure these types of comments are confronting us all
through the life situations in US and other places. I thank all those who
responded appropriately to this. Let me share with you my humble thoughts on
the issues raised by Mr. Philip..... to read
more

The Syriac Orthodox Church cannot consider
authorizing cremation of the dead without considerable deliberation and
re-interpretation of its faith, tradition and liturgy. Our concept of
resurrection is not merely one of the soul putting on a mystical body at
resurrection. At resurrection, the Church teaches that it indeed is the
temporal body that is reunited with the soul and together are clothed in
robes of glory....
to read more

The question on the elevation
of the Catholicos to the Patriarchate arises based on the constitution
of SOC Article 36, which says:

"The following shall
participate in the election of the new Patriarch: His Beatitude the
Catholicos, the Metropolitan of the Knanaya Archdiocese, the
Metropolitans of the churches of the Antiochian Apostolic See in India,
and the Metropolitan of North America of the Malankara Archdiocese. All
above shall elect but may not be elected".

It is said that "above all
shall elect but 'may' not be elected". However, it does NOT say that
"All above shall elect but SHOULD not be elected.

Now the same constitution also
says that the (Article 8) "Catholicos is elected only by the
Metropolitans under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate See".

Patriarch is elected with
representation (Universal Episcopal synod) from all over the world, but
Catholicos is elected only by bishops under the Catholicate. The
Jacobite Syrian Christian Association (electoral body for Catholicos)
does not currently entertain electing a bishop who is not part of the
Synod under the Catholicate, as the Catholicos. These are well
understood and no one from India or from among the Suryoye has
questioned it....